European stocks up for eighth session as oil surge boosts energy stocks

(Reuters) - Energy stocks boosted by a steady surge in oil prices, and a higher open on Wall Street helped European shares erase session losses and close higher on Tuesday, but a sell-off in banks and auto stocks kept gains in check.

The pan-European STOXX 600 index closed up 0.23 percent, touching August highs and extending gains to an eighth straight session - its longest winning streak since October 2017. It had fallen as much as 0.3 percent in the session.

Energy-heavy London’s FTSE 100 led gains in the region, up 0.9 percent at a more than six-month high, while Germany’s DAX and France’s CAC40 rebounded to close higher. Wall Street’s rise on upbeat earnings bolstered sentiment, helping them retrace losses.

The oil and gas sector hit a six-month high, up 2 percent, with Royal Dutch Shell, British Petroleum and Total, up between 1.8 percent and 2.6 percent.

Oil prices hit their highest since November after Washington announced all Iran sanction waivers would end by May, pressuring importers to stop buying from Tehran.

Surging oil prices, however, took a toll on airline stocks. Air France, EasyJet plc, Lufthansa and Ryanair , all shed between 2 percent and 6 percent.

Getinge was the top performer on the STOXX 600 after the Swedish medical technology company beat first quarter sales estimates and said restructuring measures will boost profit in the second half of the year.

Plane maker Airbus’ shares hit an all-time high with a management shake-up spreading to its space unit. Rival Boeing is set to report results on Wednesday, while other auto manufacturers such as United Technologies and Lockheed Martin reported solid profits.

Gains on the STOXX 600 were tempered, however, as earnings started to roll in on a not-so-positive note with Umicore tumbling over 17 percent, after the Belgian group warned revenue and earnings growth in 2020 will be lower than previous indications.

The banking index broke a six-day winning run with major European banks as UBS, Credit Suisse and Barclays slated to report earnings late this week following last week’s mixed bag of results from big Wall Street banks.

“Weakness in banks seems earnings related. It’s symbolic of the kind of (growth) between Europe and the U.S. at the moment. Because we’ve seen the likes of record profits from J.P. Morgan, but nothing close in Europe,” said Jasper Lawler, head of research at LCG in London.

Banco Santander’s, BBVA and BNP Paribas were among the biggest drags on the STOXX 600.

FILE PHOTO: The German share price index DAX graph is pictured at the stock exchange in Frankfurt, Germany, April 10, 2019. REUTERS/Staff

Renault fell 1.4 percent after Nissan Motor Co Ltd said it would reject a management integration proposal from its French partner and called for an equal capital relationship, according to a Nikkei report.

Ahold Delhaize slid after the Dutch supermarket warned that a strike at its Stop & Shop chain in U.S. would hurt its underlying 2019 profit margin, as it missed out on around $200 million on Easter week sales.

Car part suppliers Plastic Omnium and Faurecia also reported first-quarter results. Plastic Omnium slid after warning of a decline in worldwide auto production, but Faurecia rose 1.5 percent after the company met its full-year target.

Reporting by Agamoni Ghosh and Medha Singh and Susan Mathew in Benagluru, Editing by William Maclean and Ed Osmond